The postseason always begins with Subsections the week after SFL League Finals. This meet is the biggest meet of the season, at least in terms of sheer size (Section Finals is the biggest meet in terms of significance). There are 179 schools in the Sac-Joaquin Section, and most of them have runners; all runners in the section compete at Subsections, over 3700 this year. Top 10 varsity teams and top 6 for all other divisions advance to Section Finals. There are 7 squads, and our goal is for all 7 of them to qualify for Championships.
Frosh Boys
We knew our freshman boys team was pretty solid. They have placed at or near the top in most of their races this year. We felt fairly confident that this squad would place in the top 6, and actually felt there was a good shot at top 2. The beginning of the race looked good, as our boys held back as usual. But they didn’t take long to intensify their pace and “climb the ladder” of runners. Davis Little, who is having an amazing year, led the charge all the way to a 5th place finish. Tyler Crabtree, who has been really coming on strong lately, was just a few seconds back in 11th. Johann Gothold, Keaton McDermott, and Simon Aragoza were next in a cluster, all in the top 20 to ensure a really strong team score. Nathan Olah and Maximus Kotte finished well to place in the top 30, beating many scorers from other top teams. Lucca Bianotti and James Totaro continued the maroon wave, pushing into the top 40, with Christian Clark and Jack Sponder finishing with still dozens of runners on the course. It was a very solid showing for our young boys as they took first place in team scoring, comfortably advancing to Finals.
Soph Boys
Last year, the sophomore boys as freshmen barely sneaked into the Finals by placing 6th out of a limit of 6 qualifying teams. Now as sophomores, the task of placing top 6 would be much more difficult as many teams will load up their sophomore squads with their top freshmen. Usual Wildcat frontrunner Tyler Kubota did his part, grinding along with the top 10 pack to eventually finish 6th overall. Our 4-pack of Connor Rekers, Maxwell Bowen, Victor Needham, and Jack Regan would need to stay tight and close the gap to Tyler to have a shot on points. And they did move up well, with Connor getting into the top 50 and the others within 20 seconds. Brady Quinn, Daniel Cho, and Aaron Humphries all did well to support the effort, but the team placed 8th, just a single point from 7th, and missing the top 6 placing needed to advance to the Finals. Tyler qualified as an individual and will be our sole sophomore representative at Willow Hills next week.
Frosh Soph Girls
With many teams (including our own) moving faster freshmen and sophomore girls to bolster varsity rosters, it is always a mystery how competitive certain frosh soph girls teams will be at Subsections. Whitney moved no less than five frosh soph girls up to JV and varsity, leaving a bit of a difficult task for the frosh soph squad to achieve a top 6 result. Shay Waters, who is working through a case of shin splints, led the squad with a strong 11th place finish. Ava Hurren continues to rise, and was well-needed as our 2nd girl, crossing in 25th. With Manaswin Kotte in 33rd just a half minute later, things were looking like we might have a qualifying team, especially with hardworking Rae Britton not far behind, nearly breaking into the top 50. Fifth runner Inessa Maldonado was pushing hard to pass as many runners as she could in the spread out race. Addy Lee, Mykenzie Holyoak, and Joy McBride kept the Wildcats’ charge alive as the team effort proved enough to achieve a top 5 score. The frosh soph girls placed 5th and will advance to Section Championships.
JV Boys
Whitney has well over 7 varsity level runners, which means our JV roster at any given meet will have runners that would make most any varsity squad. At Subsections, JV competes with all large school programs, meaning not just our own D2, but D1 as well. But even against the biggest and strongest D1 programs, Whitney is able to go toe to toe in the JV race. Aidan Barkve, Joel Tajiri, and Dario Ruscica (in a nice bounce-back race) captured 3 of the first 4 spots across the finish line, with Aidan hitting a nice 3-mile PR on a tough course in the process. Jaden Rapp, coming back from illness, and Brandon Olah ensured Whitney was the first team to get the 5th runner across the line, ahead of D1 powerhouse programs Davis, Jesuit, and Folsom. Training buddies Peyton Boyd and Landon Wibbeler were as consistent as usual, holding down the 6th and 7th spots, pushing into the top 40, and both hitting PR’s. And the next pair of training buddies, Joey Gloria and Brendan Whitmore finished still ahead of some 130 runners, both hitting PR’s as well. Akanis Surapak was next, running tough in support. And then was Tyler Herceg, one of our incredible 4-year seniors, racing his final cross country race in a Whitney uniform, earning a 3-mile PR. Owen Hinkelman and Carter McBride followed, and just like several of their teammates, raced to a PR. Our JV boys placed 1st in team scoring, and have earned a trip to Section Championships.
JV Girls
Similar to our top boys, Whitney has well over 7 runners capable of competing at a high level as varsity athletes. And so it only makes sense that our JV roster will have some top performers. Izzy Soto, Sophie Bowen, and Alishia Elie all have varsity experience, and all three ladies placed in the top 10. The next three Wildcats, Kaylee Holyoak, Taylor Bettencourt, and Gillian Kingery, all crossed the line in the top 40, and all earned lifetime 3-mile PR’s on a tough course; this is a tribute to their consistent hard work which results in peaking at the right time, during the postseason. Our JV girls placed 2nd as a team, and will race at Section Finals.
Varsity Boys
Our varsity men have had a consistent approach and result throughout the season: pack run at a conservative pace early, then swarm past opponents, finish with scoring our 5th man well ahead of every other team, and do it with a team spread of about a half minute or less. Oh, and the final piece to all that has been to come away with a victory. That description fit pretty accurately once again at Subsections. David Hurren, Noah Lopez, Mateo DelGadillo, and Nick Herrmann all crossed in the top 10, side by side in a virtual tie. About 10 seconds later, Callum Turner and Noah Reed were also finishing, with Noah earning a lifetime 3-mile PR. And just like that, less than a minute after the first runner finished, the Whitney runners were all in, with still over 150 runners on the course. Whitney took 1st by more than 60 points, and will advance to Section Championships.
Varsity Girls
After an off-season with an abundance of build-up, Whitney’s Varsity Women began summer conditioning while much was said about Sac Joaquin D2 being among the most competitive in the state, especially with state-ranked teams Granite Bay and St. Francis. As the season unfolded, Whitney twice beat top-ranked D1 Oak Ridge, and came within a narrow margin of both St. Francis and Granite Bay. Along the way, people have noticed the Whitney Ladies, who have since risen in the rankings up with these other powerful programs. And so the postseason began with these 3 teams at Subsections. Stellar Wildcat Katie Kopec went with the lead pack before pulling away with no challengers to win by more than half a minute. Ava Kopec, pushing a bit to see what she and her opponents could handle, crossed in 3rd; her added effort paid off with a nice PR. Key addition to this year’s team, freshman Jane Landon ran a solid race to place 13th. Fellow freshman Sophie Hutchinson paced with Grace Scott to a controlled top 40 finish. And our 3rd freshman in this varsity line-up, Addi Ewers, struggling with a bit of illness, toughed out an impressive top 60 finish. As they have done in every race this season, the Lady Wildcats placed 2nd as a team. These girls will race at Section Championships, and we’ll see if another 2nd place finish is in order.
Section Championships will be held at Willow Hills Reservoir at Folsom High School on Saturday, November 12th. The large school programs (D1 and D2) will compete in the morning races. This meet marks the end of the season, except for possibly varsity making state.